I have decided to build this chest but am stuck on materials. I don’t have access to eastern white pine and need some Ideas on what to build this English chest from. I wont build the chest with only hand tools I simply don’t want to spend the time to hand cut that many dovetails when I can do it faster with a Keller Jig. However I do want this to be a good project and so I want it to turn out as good as I can make it this chest will be used only for my hand tools and will compliment my wall chest and saw and plane tills that will help get the shop better organized and a safer and more user friendly work environment. I am in California so If your close to me and have Ideas on wood to build with I would love your input I will use the design right out of the book so that part is a done deal. Ideas on where to get the hardware and caster types etc etc. Also feedback and photos of the chest built by you would be great. This was not my first choice for storage but wall space has become a commodity in my shop so a rolling cabinet is logical.

Hi Lance, I would consider Douglas Fir as a good local species for an alternate. Visited a small family run mill some time back that is about 30 miles from you that had some nice inventory stored away, I will get you the info. Pretty good KD stuff is also available at most of the lumber resources in our area.

Hi Lance. I second Dave, but would also mention looking at framing lumber from a box store. Its going to be painted anyway, right! Rip down on bandsaw to desired thickness. Get a 2×12 and the box can be done in 2 board widths :-)

If youre gonna paint it why not use poplar. I think that most of the time a tool chest was built with whatever was most plentiful and cheap. I say use whatever you got on hand. I wouldn’t over think it bro.

-- "there aren’t many hand tools as awe-inspiring as the #8 jointer. I mean, it just reeks of cast iron heft and hubris" - Smitty

Poplar sounds right to me. Ash would be great, but don’t see why you should pay a premium for it over poplar. DF is nice wood, I wouldn’t resaw construction lumber – it will bend and twist before your eyes. The “KD” stuff is drier than the regular stuff, but it’s not dry. If you could find a sawyer who has 1” stock of clear DF, that would be a different story.

One can use what ever local wood one has ( I had the walnut stashed away in a Barn) and adjust the sizes to what the stash of lumber dictates. One could add a glue block behind those feet, and add casters to rool it around. Mine will stay in it’s own space, for now

I love alder, I missed it while I was in NY. A little more expensive than poplar, but a much nicer wood, in my opinion. Should be easily had in CA. If you want to go less expensive, doug fir might work, though any softwood will have knots that will need to be addressed. Whether that bothers you is up to you, but I don’t like big ol’ knots in my boards.

I’ve been wondering about materials myself…..I have access to old Redwood fence/siding boards and pine shelving….If I still lived in Humboldt, I’d build it from barn siding…most of salvage stuff was old-growth Redwood and Doug Fir….BTW, that’s a nice looking chest, Kevin…...........Wes

-- "After a year of doing general farmwork, it was quite clear to me that chickens and I were not compatible"-George Nakashima